A Configurable Transport Layer for CAF

The message-driven nature of actors lays a foundation for developing scalable and distributed software. While the actor itself has been thoroughly modeled, the message passing layer lacks a common definition. Properties and guarantees of message exchange often shift with implementations and contexts. This adds complexity to the development process, limits portability, and removes transparency from distributed actor systems. In this work, we examine actor communication, focusing on the implementation and runtime costs of reliable and ordered delivery. Both guarantees are often based on TCP for remote messaging, which mixes network transport with the semantics of messaging. However, the choice of transport may follow different constraints and is often governed by deployment. As a first step towards re-architecting actor-to-actor communication, we decouple the messaging guarantees from the transport protocol. We validate our approach by redesigning the network stack of the C++ Actor Framework (CAF) so that it allows to combine an arbitrary transport protocol with additional functions for remote messaging. An evaluation quantifies the cost of composability and the impact of individual layers on the entire stack

TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2009

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Innovation Of, In, On Infrastructures: Articulating the Role of Architecture in Information Infrastructure Evolution

In this paper, we address the question: “which conditions enable successful information infrastructure innovation?”. Information infrastructures are characterized by nonlinear evolutionary dynamics. Based on a case study that examines the design, development, and initial use of a web-based solution for patient-hospital communication at a Norwegian hospital over a ten-year period, we trace the evolution of a new II. This longitudinal analysis takes installed base cultivation as its conceptual basis. Specifically, we draw on three aspects of a cultivation strategy: growth process, user mobilization, and learning to cultivate. The analysis shows how the solution started as a bottom-up initiative of a small and motivated team at the hospital IT department, and how it grew gradually in a flexible and evolutionary way. Our findings support the argument that successful infrastructure innovations are based on a cultivation strategy addressing specific users’ needs, usefulness, and evolutionary growth. We make three key contributions to information infrastructure research. First, we expose the role architecture plays in the growth of IIs. Second, we provide insights about cultivating IIs, especially in their bootstrap phase. Third, we identify three different but interrelated types of innovation—in, of, on infrastructure—that articulate the critical role of IIs architecture in enabling successful innovation

Aligning with the rapidly shifting technological goalposts : the review and update of the RIMPA technology survey

In 2008 the Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA) organisation (then known as the Records Management Association of Australasia – RMAA) launched its Technology Survey. The survey attempted to capture a snapshot, predominantly but not exclusively in Australia and New Zealand, and gain empirical evidence about the use of technology adoption trends, RIM capabilities in host organisations and the role of RIM personnel in technology selection and adoption. The survey had a particular focus on Records Management (RM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems and processes, but also featured questions on the demographics of the participants, organisational policies and processes around these technologies and peripheral devices. In 2010 the survey was repeated. Consequently, the survey became more than a one-off cross-sectional snapshot and could lay claim to being a longitudinal study, however as a longitudinal study instrument the current survey is lacking validity and reliability. A consensus exists, however, that changes are required going forward if the survey is to continue. This consensus is based on issues that have emerged from analysis of the two iterations of the current instrument. The issues that need to be addressed are: • Low participation rate • The relatively high number of questions skipped • The overall length of the survey • Ensuring the survey has a clear and distinct aim • Ensuring what is captured is core to the survey’s aim • Ensuring what is captured is relevant to the RIM profession • The ambiguity of questions • Misunderstanding of questions • Scope – expansion of the instrument to encompass technology learning, knowledge and skills of RIM professions These issues were identified by Brogan and Roberts in their analyses of the 2008 and 2010 data (2009, 2011 and 2012). This study is an examination and revision of the current technology survey instrument, aimed at ensuring that issues of relevancy, currency, usability, design and clarity of terms and definitions are all addressed, resulting in a valid and reliable longitudinal study instrument. The research design employed involved: a) investigation of the peer reviewed literature on survey participation and instrument design; b) investigation of peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed literature on technology in the RIM space; c) Convening of a panel of experts (focus group) to provide feedback on the existing instrument; d) Re-design of the existing instrument taking into account outcomes from a-c; and e) Validation of the re-designed instrument via the Focus Group The Focus Group review involved six highly regarded and knowledgeable participants pro-active in the RIM profession who trialled the instrument in a subsequent Pilot Test. The Focus Group provided additional feedback on scope and usability from a user perspective. The final survey produced will enable RIMPA to be informed on the technology education and training needs of its members, as well as continuing to track technology adoption and RIM program trends in the workplace

Digital transformation, business models and the postal industry

For many decades, the postal industry offered postal services and in parallel, had a monopoly over the national postal markets. Recently, the postal industry endured a phase where their national postal markets were subjected to liberalisation by the respective nations. This was due to various reasons such as inefficiencies of the postal services, ambiguous monopoly legislations, mounting pressure from competitors, and changing nature of customer demands. The liberalisation of the European Union postal markets is an example of a liberalisation that was based on the unique requirement of harmonising the postal services across the whole European Union. Other nations outside the European Union liberalised their postal markets either completely or partially based on their own unique requirements. After the liberalisation phase, the postal industry faced a significant challenge from digital services. Digital services were responsible for the constant declines in profitable letter service volumes. In response, the postal industry started developing digital postal services. However, therein lies the problem. The postal industry is unaware of the steps needed to develop digital postal services and has not had a great deal of financial success in this area. I address this problem by referring to âbusiness models. Business models have been a recent area of interest in management literature and, as such, offer an innovative perspective on the postal industry development activities in digital postal services. The main goal of my dissertation is to provide recommendations for the postal industrys development of digital postal services via business models. The four sub-goals of the dissertation are as follows: determine the business model framework, determine the different types of business models for digital postal services using the business model framework, determine the antecedents to these business models, and determine the performance effects of these business models on the postal industry. The targeted research methodology involves multiple exploratory case studies and explanatory survey studies on the digital service activities of the postal operators. I initially developed a business model framework from the literature review. The business model framework has four components that help identify business models within firms: value proposition, resources, network and finance. Subsequently, I conducted case studies on the digital postal services activities of six postal operators, in order to investigate the different types of business models for digital postal services. I identified four types of business models for digital postal services based on my developed business model framework: traditional add-ons, digital add-ons, hybrid ecosystem and digital ecosystem. I then conducted survey studies with postal operators in a number of countries, in order to investigate the antecedents of the business models described above, as well as the performance effects of these business models on the postal industry. The findings suggest that dynamic capabilities have a statistically significant impact on the business models that are in synergy with the postal operators physical postal services. In addition, the business models that are in synergy with the postal operators physical postal services have a statistically significant impact on firm performance

MARIE, une architecture d'intégration de composants logiciels hétérogènes pour le développement de systèmes décisionnels en robotique mobile et autonome

""Aujourd'hui, la création de systèmes décisionnels en robotique mobile et autonome requiert l'intégration de nombreuses capacités motrices, sensorielles et cognitives au sein de chacun des projets réalisés. Ces capacités sont généralement issues de différents domaines de recherche, comme par exemple la navigation autonome, la planification, les interactions humain-machine, la localisation, la vision artificielle et le contrôle d'actionneurs, pour ne nommer que ceux-ci. D'un point de vue logiciel, deux défis de taille sont issus de ce besoin d'intégration : 1) la complexification de l'analyse des requis pour choisir, construire et interconnecter les différents composants logiciels qui permettent la réalisation de ces capacités, et 2) l'interconnectivité limitée des composants logiciels disponibles dans la communauté robotique causée par le fait qu'ils sont typiquement hétérogènes, c'est-à-dire qu'ils ne sont pas complètement compatibles ou interopérables. Cette thèse propose une solution principalement au défi d'interconnectivité limité en se basant sur la création d'une architecture d'intégration logicielle appelée MARIE, qui permet d'intégrer des composants logiciels hétérogènes utilisant une approche de prototypage rapide pour le développement de systèmes décisionnels en robotique mobile et autonome. Grâce à cette approche, la réalisation de systèmes décisionnels complets pourrait se faire plus tôt dans le cycle de développement, et ainsi favoriser l'analyse des requis nécessaires à l'intégration de chacun des composants logiciels du système. Les résultats montrent que grâce au développement de l'architecture d'intégration logicielle MARIE, plus de 15 composants logiciels provenant de sources indépendantes ont été intégrées au sein de plusieurs applications robotiques (réelles et simulées), afin de réaliser leurs systèmes décisionnels respectifs. L'adaptation des composants déjà existants dans la communauté robotique a permis notamment d'éviter la tâche souvent ardue de réécrire le code nécessaire pour chacun des composants dans un seul et même environnement de développement. Les résultats montrent également que grâce à une méthodologie d'évaluation logicielle appelée ARID, nous avons pu recueillir de l'information utile et pertinente à propos des risques associés à l'utilisation de MARIE pour réaliser une application choisie, sans devoir construire une application de test et sans avoir recours à de la documentation complète de l'architecture logicielle ni celle de l'application à créer. Cette méthode s'inscrit ainsi dans la liste des outils qui permettent de faciliter l'analyse des requis d'intégration reliés à la création de systèmes décisionnels en robotique mobile et autonome."

ContextErlang: A language for distributed context-aware self-adaptive applications

Self-adaptive software modifies its behavior at run time to satisfy changing requirements in a dynamic environment. Context-oriented programming (COP) has been recently proposed as a specialized programming paradigm for context-aware and adaptive systems. COP mostly focuses on run time adaptation of the application’s behavior by supporting modular descriptions of behavioral variations. However, self-adaptive applications must satisfy additional requirements, such as distribution and concurrency, support for unforeseen changes and enforcement of correct behavior in the presence of dynamic change. Addressing these issues at the language level requires a holistic design that covers all aspects and takes into account the possibly cumbersome interaction of those features, for example concurrency and dynamic change. We present ContextErlang, a COP programming language in which adaptive abstractions are seamlessly integrated with distribution and concurrency. We define ContextErlang’s formal semantics, validated through an executable prototype, and we show how it supports formal proofs that the language design ensures satisfaction of certain safety requirements. We provide empirical evidence that ContextErlang is an effective solution through case studies and a performance assessment. We also show how the same design principles that lead to the development of ContextErlang can be followed to systematically design contextual extensions of other languages. A concrete example is presented concerning ContextScala